Stories of Thalia Helfyre

The Tales of Thalia Helfyre

Early Life
Thalia is the second twin born to Valreesa the Guile and Galian Helfyre. Born a Tiefling, Thalia originally went by the name Lerissa for the majority of her life, only very recent events led her to change her name to Thalia.

Thalia was born in the city of Zhelenitsa, the great Mage city on the western coast of the Continent. She grew up without her parents, having only been told that they 'made the greatest of sacrifices'. She was not without a parental figure, however, that duty fell to her uncle Irelian Helfyre. Thalia was born with the abilities of a Sorcerer -Wild magic in nature- which manifested themselves when she was a child. Irelian unofficially instructed her in the ways of controlling her magic at the Zhelenitsan Academy of Evocation, as such she favours offensive spells.

Life in the Helfyre household was simple, yet comfortable. Though they were by no means nobility, Thalia never truly wanted for anything as her grandfather had slowly built moderate wealth in his youth. Her uncle told her stories of her grandfather Nalridaas Helfyre, and how he came to be a respected member of the Zhelenitsan community. Nalridaas never became a member of the magic academies himself; but considerable donations and favours allowed him to enrol his sons into both the Evocation and Conjuration schools. Uncle Irelian told Thalia this was no small feat; Tieflings are generally reviled as cursed, tainted beings, mistrusted by many societies on the Continent.

The actions her Grandfather performed allowed Thalias father Galian to study and conduct research at the Academy of Conjuration. After a decade or so at the Academy Galian began what would become his lifes work; trying to find a way to reverse the Tiefling condition. This research would lead him to travel vast sections of the known world, from small rural villages like Redcliffe, to the great Dragonborn city of *insert arabic dragon name here*. During his travels he would meet the wise woman known as Valreesa The Guile, one who would help heal is his father from a sickness. Valreesa became his companion and research assistant, following him across the land and helping him track down leads for his work. The two grew close and started a relationship which led them to have twins.Thalia would learn the truth surrounding her birth and her parents disappearance later in her life.

An Incident in Zhelenitsa
While living with her uncle in Zhelenitsa, Thalia became her Uncles assistant. Unlike Thalias father, Irelian rose to become a Professor at the Academy of Evocation. She would perform odd jobs for him; fetching books from the library, taking down notes during her uncles lectures and fetching spell components from the Academies storerooms. In his spare time Irelian would teach her basic evocation cantrips, though he discovered early on that unlike wizards such as himself, Thalia had no need for spell tomes. Wild Magic was in her blood, and though Irelian suspected he knew how this occurred, he never voiced this to his niece.

As she got older, and as her control of the magic grew stronger, Thalia started to get curious as to who her parents were. She wanted to know where her magic came from, and thought that finding out who they were would reveal something. Her uncle had told Thalia that her father studied in the Academy of Conjuration, but he had never told her his name. Irelian forbade her from entering the Academy unaccompained and tried to convince her that knowing the truth may not yield the results she sought. Undeterred, Thalia started looking into former staff and students from the Academies, eventually discovering that her father had his own study at his former school.

Sneaking out of her house in the middle of the night, Thalia made her way to her fathers study. She found the door locked, chained shut and seemingly forgotten, but she burned her way through with her magic. Entering the room, it was as though it was still in use; books still open, journals half written and a quill still in its inkpot. She found herself drawn to a desk in the center of the room. It had assorted oddities layed on it; scrolls and notes written in an unknown language, a mosaaic piece coloured a sickly green and an ornate lockbox - closed but with the key still in the lock. As she turned it she felt an eerie chill crawl up her spine. Inside the lockboxes velvet interior lay a single journal, bound in black leather with a slight green tinge. As she reached out she could feel herself almost relieved - answers to questions that her uncle would never give were about to be answered, it was all there at her fingertips.

The alarm was sudden and piercing. The study was drowned with a shrill shriek the moment Thalias fingers touched the book. Outside in the sprawling corridors she could hear sounds of clambering feet, shouting and arcane whispers of spells being cast. Smoke billowed into the room, creeping past the doorframe and wrapping around the shelves next to it. Her uncle burst into the room, the edges of his robes and patches of his beard smouldering; as if recently set alight. Before she could explain herself Uncle Irelian urged her to run, to flee the city whilst she had time. He handed her a small pouch of silver coins, a few supplies and set her on her way.

Current Events The underdark happened She died Then she came back to life Then she turned into a gnome